There is always a target. For some its targeting business. For some its targeting foreigners. For some its targeting benefit "scroungers". For some, its rich tax dodgers, and for others its the EU. There may be some truth in aspects of it, but not to the degrees those that try and influence us want us to believe. Its possible for both sides of the coin to exist at once, and we shouldn't be easily sucked in to a one sided view that everything is perfect hedonism, or the worst thing ever. I've certainly been aware of people who shouldn't be receiving free top ups given the circumstances they infer, however, there are many many more people who need support. And as has been mentioned, much of those are in employment but underemployed. There are plenty of businesses who are completely scraping by and I fear what may happen in January. Potential poor Christmas figures, new rent period, self assessment month and the looming reality of a Brexit outcome. Retail is completely scuppered and amazon are hoovering up and offshoring profits. And if peoples circumstances are hit, the eating and drinking boom we've seen in the last decade will ebb and with so many units taken at high rates to block out others, that can only finish in a mess too. If that negative business environment pans out, people will struggle more and more people will fall into the net of UC. If it can't take the strain now, god help those who need it in January
You are lucky. You don’t have MS or locked In Syndrome you have presumably full use of your limbs. You haven’t had to give up work to look after someone with a disability. You are a car crash away from a life time dependency on benefits. The vast majority of benefits go to people who have jobs or are retired. The people you are talking about represent a minuscule percentage of people. The majority of benefits given goes to private landlords not claimants. They are the real leeches. If you’re ere serious about reducing benefits you would invest in social housing whilst bringing in stringent rent controls.
So this bloke has spent 14 years scratching about the streets of London trying to save up enough money to finish producing a film that nobody wants to buy in order to buy a barge . Now then ,he says he's had a lot of bad advice on the streets of London , we'll he's not wrong there .
Exclusively? Not a long term thing? So someone with a disability should just have them for a bit and get themselves sorted. The parent that quits work to look after a disabled child? These disabled children become disabled adults. The parents biggest fear becomes what will become of the child when they die. Think about that, how that must feel? Credit to you for making a success of yourself you should be rightly proud. But you are luckier than you know if you have never had to face these sorts of problems.
The report (from Shelter) below does say that 37% of families are a month's pay away from losing their home. https://www.theguardian.com/money/2...ies-one-months-pay-losing-homes-shelter-study
Well they probably aren't they would slip into credit card debt and payday loans first. But yes I know loads of people are in this situation. Last year we had a wages issue and it was looking like pay might be a week late and people we're in tears of despair. Martin Lewis has pushed hard to get basic financial management taught in schools.
I’m alright jack, **** everyone else... I’m sure you deserve every penny you earn, but working yourself up to a high salary doesn’t give you the right to judge and castigate all those not in the same position.
On an average night outside of Heals 30-40 rough sleepers the majority in employment sleep. In Sheffield the number of rough sleeeprs since the Introduction of UC has increased 750 % in Leeds since the introduction of UC the number of rough sleepers has increased by nearly 500 %. In Manchester ( though their figures are approximate the increase involved is around a 1000 percent. Of course this may be a massive coincidence with people just enjoying life on the streets...
Tell us what the cure for MS is and we will both go back to work tomorrow, that way we won't be such a burden on society as otherwise the only way I will be able to work again is when the missus dies. That a good enough attitude for you ?
How long could you last if your company goes bust tomorrow? You are in a better position than most with no mortgage or car payments, but you wouldn't qualify for any benefits for a while until you spent your redundancy (if you got any) and the last of your pay. How quickly could you get another job in a shrinking market? Could you take a 10%, 20% or bigger pay cut? Do you have any dependents? I was hit with the redundo stick in 2006 - completely out of the blue. On Monday I had a relatively high paying job, on Tuesday I was locked out of the office along with all of my colleagues. Luckily I found something quickly, but it came with a ~£12k pay cut followed by years of stagnant wage growth as the credit crunch hit. I know of ex-colleagues that went a year without work.
People who are working full time but sleeping rough must have made seriously bad life choices at some point or had some seriously bad luck. If they are in full employment in one of the big cities mentioned and sleeping rough they obviously cant afford the extortionate accommodation prices in these cities . Get the hell out of there , find a job in a place where you can afford to live . It doesn't have to be a canal boat in Chelsea .
Inwo So everyone doing a minimum wage job leaves every major city voluntarily making themselves unemployed and thus no longer eligible for benefits. They now move both homeless and jobless to Barnsley or Scunthorpe. If they were allowed to claim benefits they would have to them commit to seeking employment up to 2 hours away so back in Leeds or Manchester or Sheffield... https://www.theguardian.com/busines...-british-workers-live-in-poverty-charity-says
All it takes is a relationship breakdown and you can quite quickly find yourself homeless. How many people (honestly) can afford around a grand for a months deposit, a months rent in advance and fees in Barnsley *while still paying their existing financial commitments*?
And all were offered jobs back in the industry . It’s a weak argument the Tories destroyed jobs, end of
And if your missus had kicked you out and claimed all saved money for maintenance plus a percentage of your wages . Where does that leave you. The homeless havnt always been there they have been forced by circumstances. Circumstances that you don’t/won’t believe could happen to anyone . I don’t think people that think like you know what is really going on and there’s plenty that thought like you out there on the streets or sofa serfing